Fight the fresher’s flu – with science

Colds, coughs, snuffly noses, sore throats and headaches – many of us will suffer from one or more of these symptoms at this time of year. Though we may feel angry at the person we caught it from, and bitter about having to miss a night out to curl up in bed with a Lemsip, freshers’ flu is essentially something we bring upon ourselves – with a bad diet, alcohol and too many late nights.

Malnutrition was a prominent topic in the news last week, after it was discovered that 18-year-old Mitch Comer, from Georgia, had been imprisoned within his own home and starved by his parents for several years. As a result, the traumatised teenager had the appearance of a child: at 5ft 1, he weighed only 87 pounds. The most startling aspect of his appearance, however, was his milk teeth.

Although this seems bizarre, it does make sense. From a nutritional standpoint, the human body is expensive to run. It needs three re-fuels a day (in the form of meals) in order to keep you going for as long as possible. So, when fuel is low, the body economises where energy is spent. Mitch’s body decided it was better to keep him alive rather than give him a dental upgrade.

Mitch would have also been extremely susceptible to viruses, as malnutrition leads to a weakened immune system. Although scientists only have a vague understanding of how this phenomenon occurs, the molecule leptin is thought to be involved.

Leptin manages our body weight by controlling energy uptake (by regulating our appetite) and expenditure. It is also needed for the immune system to work effectively, as the adaptive part of the immune system (where the body learns to deal with infections it has previously encountered) is dependent on leptin for its function. Therefore, in starved people, low leptin levels lead to a lowered activity of the adaptive immune response.

Although freshers’ flu is not by any means comparable to the horrific condition in which Mitch was found, it too occurs as a result of poor nutrition. Dodgy eating habits in Freshers’ fortnight (takeaways, ready meals and a lack of fresh fruit and veg) result in a ‘sluggish’ immune system. The combination of a lowered immune system and exposure to many new individuals (each carrying novel bugs) results in a dramatically increased chance of catching a virus or bacterial infection at this time of year.

Simply having a good balanced diet is all that is needed to keep your immune system in tip-top form, but let’s face it – in the whirlwind of Freshers’ it can be difficult to eat healthily all the time. So what simple nutritional advice can you follow to keep those infections at bay? ­

Malnutrition in the developed world (including Coventry!) is usually down to a lack of minerals and vitamins rather than proteins, fats and carbohydrates, which we are relatively good at consuming. To improve your nutrition, make sure you include the following in your diet:

Iron (found in meat, cereals and green vegetables) is essential for the proper functioning of the immune system. Therefore iron deficient people are at greater infection risk. Becoming iron deficient can happen deceptively quickly, since the gut only absorbs 10 percent of our dietary iron, and we require 1-2mg/day and we lose ~1mg/day as well. Add to this any iron losses through menstrual bleeding, and suddenly keeping a level of iron suitable enough for good immune system functioning is actually not so easy.

Vitamin C (found in citrus fruits, berries and green vegetables) helps to make iron available for use by the body. It too has an important role in immunity. Research suggests that high doses of vitamin C may tackle the common cold, so make sure you eat lots of peppers, broccoli, oranges and kiwis if you’re suffering from freshers’ flu!

In summary, feeling a bit under the weather at the beginning of university is almost inevitable, and in an odd way may suggest you are having a good time: meeting lots of new people and not really eating well! But the horrifying case of Mitch Comer illustrates how vitally important eating sensibly is. By simply giving your body a bit of tender loving care, you may get off lightly from this year’s predictable freshers’ plague.